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Saturday, 31 December 2016

It's that time again: as a new year arrives, we take a look back at the most popular posts of 2016.

Top five of the year.

Archaeology certainly caught our attention: at five is a near-secret piece of Roman history, the undeservedly little-known Billingsgate Roman Baths. (If you haven't seen them yet, look out for tours in 2017.) By contrast, it was a little bit of speculation on the archaeology of the future that took fourth place.

And the most popular post of 2016 was a look at the extraordinary underground 'museum' of posters below Euston Station. Who could resist the appeal of this colourful snapshot of 1962, its films, fashion, and trains?

The Paris catacombs - whose popularity may come largely from image searches for skulls - have dropped into second place this year. First place now goes to a post for which I (or at least, my lungs) suffered: a walk through the Rotherhithe Tunnel. I wasn't breaking any rules, but the tunnel really isn't pedestrian-friendly, so I'm glad people are making a virtual visit instead!

Wednesday, 28 December 2016

On Strand is one of London's very smallest museums - and its gift shop is larger than its exhibition! This is the Twining's shop, which has been here for three centuries, and celebrates its long history with a museum display at the back.

In 1706, Thomas Twining bought a coffee house on Devereux Court, on the corner with the Strand. Competition between these fashionable social establishments was fierce; as they tried to distinguish themselves, some did rather better than others. Famously, Hogarth's father opened a coffee house in St John's Gate whose gimmick was that only Latin could be spoken: it failed. Twining's approach was almost as risky, but worked - he took on Tom's Coffee House and made it famous for tea.

The drink had been introduced to Britain just 60 years before Twining set up in business on his own, and was still expensive and heavily taxed. Nonetheless, it was popular with aristocratic customers who could buy leaves to take away, as well as the beverage to drink on site, and soon the trade in dry tea made up most of his business. He expanded it, occupying three houses on the Strand by 1717, forming the shop that is still there today. Within a few decades, Twining's were selling tea to royalty and exporting it to America. By the end of the century, Thomas' son Richard had successfully lobbied the government to reduce tea taxes.

This history is captured in several display cases, which feature documents, pictures and packaging as well as tea paraphernalia. Entry is free, and you can also enjoy the building including the famous Coade-stone figures on its facade. And there's an impressive selection of tea on sale if you want a flavorsome souvenir.

Sunday, 25 December 2016

Thursday, 22 December 2016

A few months ago, Banbury North Signal Box was a crucial part of the railway network as well as a landmark for train passengers. Now, it's boarded up and awaiting demolition. However, I was fortunate enough to visit on 2 October, the last day before its contents were removed and preparations for demolition began.

A flight of steps led up to a large, window-lined room overlooking the tracks. The long row of levers were the heart of the operation, moving wires and rods via the frame relay below to reach semaphore signals and points up to 350 yards away.

The red-handled ones moved the signals; the blue ones locked and unlocked the points, while the black levers moved the points.

We can read a story of decline in the white handles: these indicated levers no longer in use.

That limited physical range meant a significant number of boxes had to be scattered around the system: here, there was one the other side of the station at Banbury South. The two boxes could communicate by sending signals using bells.

Despite the size of the box and number of levers - not to mention the complexity of the network - it was designed to be operated by one person.

This was busy and demanding work; but in quieter moments, there was a stove, armchair and later even a kitchen area to provide some comfort. These amenities are as varied in age and style as the machinery alongside them.

The manual, lever-operated signal system has been replaced by an automated system controlled from a Regional Operating Centre. The semaphore signals are gone, with LED signals in their place. The century-old signal boxes (Banbury North was built in 1901) are obsolete.

The Banbury South box is already gone - it was demolished within hours of going out of service. The controversy this caused informed how Network Rail dealt with its sibling. Calls for preservation were unsuccessful, and there is little choice but to remove the old signal box: it is too close to the tracks for public access to be an option in future.

However, equipment was removed for spares, for heritage sites, and for the local museum; timbers will be recycled and window frames saved. And for eight weeks, the signal box was opened for tours: a chance for the public (over 3,500 of us) to say a final farewell.

Equally beautiful, although very different in style, is La Cathedrale. Like its older neighbour, this building used innovative construction techniques: it was one of the first reinforced concrete buildings, completed in 1908. Its architect, Stephen Sauvestre, had already worked on the Eiffel Tower - he was responsible for the decorative arches at its base. La Cathedrale's mixture of brick and stone is characteristic of his work, which included many houses in the 17th arrondissement of Paris.

Engineer Armand Considere would later patent the construction method used here, in which the concrete was reinforced with steel hoops. He and Sauvestre were also responsible for the bridge joining this building to its neighbours across the Marne. It became known as the Pont Hardi (Daring Bridge) because it had the largest span of the era - 44.5 metres (146 feet).

Given such innovation, La Cathedrale's interior was hardly going to be ordinary. It is notable for very distinctive pillars, between which the cocoa was mixed with sugar.

Formerly, beans were sorted and roasted in the glass-roofed La Verriere which was built in 1866 and extended in 1923. Today it leads visitors from the reception area, past displays of Nestle products. However, traces of its past are still visible throughout.

Modern technology included cooling machinery, housed in the Halle Eiffel, which chilled the extensive cellars where the chocolate was released from its moulds and stored.

The machinery is now gone, but this metal-framed building from 1884 remains.

Its name comes from the story that this was formerly a pavilion from the 1878 Universal Exhibition in Paris, but any connection to Gustave Eiffel is unproven: its official entry in the register of historical monuments attributes it to Jules Logre. With its fanciful details, inside and out, it hardly needs such stories. It fits perfectly into this extraordinary kingdom of chocolate.

Friday, 16 December 2016

In Canonbury, this sign advertises the services of John C Mather, builder and decorator, plumber and gas and hot water fitter. Among all those skills, he offered one area of particular expertise: Sanitary work a speciality.

At first glance, the sign is rather practical, emphasising clarity over artistry. Yet a closer look shows every letter has some rather nice shadowing in red. There's also a fun little loop in the initial letter of 'Mather'. When it was fresh, this must have looked pretty jaunty.

And it has an excuse for being a little worn and tired: it's pretty old. As Sebastien of Painted Signs & Mosaics discovered, Mather was in business between 1906 and 1941. The sign was at the entrance to his yard; he also had offices in nearby Northampton Street.

Friday, 25 November 2016

One of the most extraordinary of industrial buildings, the mill at the former Menier chocolate factory in Noisiel is enchanting. It sits on the river Marne like a fantastical, storybook chocolate factory, extravagantly colourful and elaborately decorative. Who would believe that such a fairytale construction made industrial history?

The mill was one of the first industrial buildings to have an exposed metal frame, created by architect Jules Saunier in 1872. He used puddled iron, considerably less granular and brittle than cast iron and thus better able to take the stresses of supporting a mill full of heavy, vibrating machinery. (Later buildings, of course, would use steel.)

His clients were the Menier family, whose pharmaceutical business really blossomed when they transformed chocolate from a medical product to a popular treat. They had been based in the town of Noisiel, east of Paris, since 1825, making chocolate powder to coat medicines. In 1836 they began manufacturing bars of chocolate; business boomed, and the Noisiel works grew. This mill replaced one built in 1842.

With the iron framework supporting the structure, the brick and ceramic was as much decorative as functional. And what decoration! There are cocoa trees, initial Ms, polychromatic motifs of all kinds, and a clock tower that's pure Disneyland (apt, since the theme park only is a few stops along the railway line).

An ornate lamp flanks the pretty glass porch; colourful lettering above offers a history with a touch of fantasy. The 'Noisiel hydraulic factory' is dated 1157 - 1825 - 1872, a rather surprising pedigree explained by the cocoa pod-bestrewn hexagonal tablet above. While the Meniers only arrived in the early 19th century, a twelfth-century charter already mentioned a mill here. (Not, of course, a chocolate mill.)

The rear facade is relatively restrained - but only relatively.

No functional factory interior could entirely live up to that exterior, but the mill did make an effort. While the Menier chocolate factory was converted to house Nestle's French headquarters in 1996, many original features including machinery have been retained - and it is clear that floors, stairs and windows were impressively ornate.

The mill made history again over a century after it was built, as the first industrial building in France to be listed as a historical monument. However, a final look out of its windows reminds us that the mill is only one part of the Menier complex - the world's largest chocolate manufactory until 1940. We'll continue our tour later...

The public tours, by Cultival, mark Nestlé's 125th birthday this year. Although they soon finish, the complex usually opens for the annual Journées du Patrimoine (heritage weekend) each September.

Saturday, 5 November 2016

On King Street, Cambridge is a large sign for Centaur Cycles - 'the best the world produces'. A closer look and some careful deciphering reveals the words 'famous since 1876' and, on the bottom line (I think), 'prices being within the reach of all'.

Centaur had indeed been founded in 1876, in Coventry. It was in 1890 that they developed their lightweight bicycle, the 'King of Scorchers' (sold as the 'Silver King' in the United States). Weighing only 26 lb - just under 12 kg - it would still be a fairly normal weight today.

A report from the 1908 Stanley Cycle Show, held in Islington's Royal Agricultural Hall, shows that the company continued to produce innovative, lightweight bikes:

Of course, the new "diagonal" frame is the attraction here. It is
designed to give all the strength of the old Centaur frame while
minimising vertical vibration. Other novelties are the Centaur
spring-forks and spring seat-pillar, which agents should make a point of
seeing, and recommending to customers who feel vibration. A remarkable
machine is the new road racer at £6 10s., weighing, without guards, 27
lbs. On the best quality Centaurs it will be noticed that there are no
clips for the pump pegs and brake fittings, these being brazed to the
forks and main down tube. The light-weight roadster is a
superbly-finished mount, scaling only 2E4 lbs., with guards complete.

The Centaur Company are showing a magnificent specimen of road
racer. This has a 3.75in. tread, steel rims and detachable tyres, a
front rim brake, fixed wheel, straight (duplex) chain stay, and comes
out at 20.5bs., selling at £10 10s. retail. This machine should appeal
to agents who have a speedy clientele, and it is supplied with either a
horizontal or a sloping down top tube.

For 1909 every Centaur at £7 10s. and over will be fitted with
Dunlop tyres. Mr. W. J. Welch, the firm's London manager, told us that
he was expecting a very interesting machine from the works, but up to
the time of our visit it had not arrived. This is an "all weather"
bicycle, enamelled all over, except for a small plated disc on the
extreme rear end of the back mudguard, the object of which is to reflect
the light from the head-lamps of an overtaking motor car, and indicate
the position of the cyclist. This extremely ingenious device is the idea
of the rider to whose order this particular machine is built, and who
is an active member of one of the hard-riding London clubs. The Centaur
Co. do not seem to have lost ground during the three or four years they
have been absent from the Show; their designs, finish, and prices are
right up-to-date. and agents and public alike are pleased to see the
famous old Coventry house again in evidence at the Agricultural Hall.

When Edward Mushing, who had co-founded the business with George Gilbert, died in 1910 the company was taken over by Humber. Although they now produced the bicycles in Stoke-on-Trent, the name lasted a few more years until 1915. (There were also Centaur motorcycles from 1901 to 1914.)